Cheap Wine Friday: Lambrusco vs Pink Moscato

Last week, we found the time! WOO! Ryan brought in a bottle of Riunite Lambrusco and a bottle of Sutter Home Pink Moscato.

Several drinkers in the crew were familiar with Lambrusco. I had never even heard of it. The bottle was big. Not quite magnum big, but definitely bigger than the typical 750ml bottle. It made the Pink Moscato bottle seem really small. We drank both of these wines chilled, if not cold.

Riunite – Lambrusco

According to wikipedia, Lambrusco is both a wine and a type of grape. It’s a sweet, slightly fizzy Italian wine that was hugely popular in the 70s and 80s. It reminded me of a wine cooler – which oddly enough were also very popular in the 80s.

I did enjoy this wine, and actually plan on buying some of it very soon. However it didn’t really feel like a wine. I felt like I needed a big glass of it, maybe some ice and a straw. It was delicious and refreshing, but not something that I’d serve with a meal. I loved that it was kind of fizzy. It tasted like wine mixed with Sprite or 7up. It’s large bottle and low price ($8) makes it VERY appealing – especially for parties where it’s often difficult to satisfy everyone’s palette.

Here’s what the crew who managed to share their opinions said about it:

Joe: Mildly sweet, just a tiny bit tart. This is one of my ‘go to’ wines when we’re having company over. Easy to drink and easy to like.

Heather: I liked the lambrusco. It reminded me of a wine cooler and would be great for a beginning wine drinker. I will try to remember this for our next party since it would work for most people and with it being a little on the fizzy side, it seems festive!

Melissa: While not much of a red wine fan, I thought the Lambrusco was sweet enough to drink. [It’s worth noting that Melissa refilled her glass with Lambrusco before heading back to her office to work]

Bryan: The Lambrusco was good as a every day wine, and the flavors seemed to stand out more (plus I like tart).

Ryan: I pretty much just had the same comment as Joe–that Riunite Lambrusco makes for a good “go to” / crowd pleaser.

Sutter Home – Pink Moscato

I love Moscatos, and I’ve never had a bad wine from Sutter Home. Having never tasted a Pink Moscato, I was pretty excited to try this one. It smelled fantastic. It had a slightly floral scent with some hints of citrus. The first sip had a slight zest to it, which smoothed out and left a pleasant aftertaste. The rest of the glass didn’t seem to have any bite, but it was smooth and delicious. It was definitely sweet – but I felt it had enough other flavors to make it enjoyable to everyone. At $6 per bottle, I’ve already bought a bottle of this to enjoy at home.

Here’s what the winers had to say:

Joe: Super sweet, almost syrup-ey. Smells a little floral, but doesn’t really taste like it smells. I’ve got the palette of a 5 year old though, so this one works just fine for me.

Heather: The moscato was good but I am not a lover of super sweet wines so I wouldn’t buy it for myself. It is a nice dessert wine with a nice flavor. Just too sweet for my tastes.

Melissa: It had a weird smell I thought, but it tasted fine. I liked this better over the Lambrusco, but again I’ll choose a white over a red any day.

Bryan: The Moscoto was very sweet and had a lot of flavor, but for me, nothing that stood out. The flavors seemed overpowered by the straight up sweetness of it.

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